Friends of the Parish Church

The Friends continued their support for the conservation of the Parish Church. The designated balance to underwrite anticipated expenditure was reduced to £138,000 (2012, £250,000). Subsequent to the year-end £107,000 has been expended on Parish Church lighting and £5,000 has been committed to new windows at St Lawrence. Grants were paid, totaling around £17,000 from unrestricted funds, a sum less than incoming resources. Grants included £15,000 for Holy Trinity heating, church flowers, vestment repairs and church yard memorial stand.

Taking into account funds received and payments made overall, net increase in funds in the year was around £72,000 (2012, c £69,000). At 31 December 2013, total funds amounted to £795,000 (2012, £723,000) of which c. £680,000 are unrestricted.

The Friends are part of the group (Corinium Museum, Brewery Arts and Cirencester Archeological and Historical Society) supporting a programme of events in the Parish Church, Town Hall and elsewhere in Cirencester to recognize the one hundredth anniversary of the commencement of the First World War. The Friends are also sponsoring a programme of lectures and exhibitions and launching publicity via the Tourist Bureau.

A campaign to increase membership from the Churches in the Parish is to be launched. With the support by grants to all three churches, increased membership would show a token of appreciation from parishioners for the work of the Friends. The Friends will continue to rely on the donation of legacies to meet the needs of ongoing major renovation needs.

The Anniversary Celebration of Evensong and AGM was held in June and addressed by the Ven. Jackie Searle, Archdeacon of Gloucester. The reception was held in the Parish Centre.